A Quick Glimpse at My New Amp Design

[Shaka]

I've got a new amp design that will be debuting May 8th at the Utah Blues Amp Sho V.

My partner and I have the circuit boards put together (mostly) and got the chassis drilled out tonight. You can also see my new faceplate design.

I thought I'd post a few pics of the progress from now until the show.

The inside of the chassis prior to punching the holes for the tube sockets and wiring up the potentiometers:



Front view with prototype faceplate and potentiometers mounted. On top you can see my custom made transformers.


Circuit Board:

[RobinFinderson]

That is really cool, Shaka. It looks surprisingly simple. The faceplate is gorgeous. Is the circuit board your invention? The event looks like it will be a lot of fun.

[Sleeping in EQ]

I'd love to hear it!

[Shaka]

That is really cool, Shaka. It looks surprisingly simple. The faceplate is gorgeous. Is the circuit board your invention? The event looks like it will be a lot of fun.

This particular amp is a take on a vintage Silvertone although it's not a replica. A buddy that owns a studio approached me with the idea of doing a boutique version of the amp because it has such a great sound and no modern ampmaker is doing an update. This is common practice. Very few guitar amps are complete original designs. When Leo Fender started building tube amps he copied schematics from military radios. Jim Marshall's first amp was based on the Fender Bassman. The guys from Matchless started out by building a virtually bulletproof version of the Vox AC30. ( That amp is the Matchless DC30 and in my opinion it's probably the best guitar amp ever built.)

This amp uses only the highest quality components. Everything is military spec. The transformers are custom wound and use a very high quality iron. Interestingly we are building two amps, one with the high end transformers and the other with run of the mill cheapo transformers that cost $250 less. We want to see just how big of a difference the transformers make.

I designed the faceplate in Corel Draw. It has a couple of problems that are easily fixed. I'll probably have the laser engraver cut the final tomorrow.

Wait until you see the head and speaker cabs. They will blow you away.

[Indy Coug]

Does it go up to 11?

[Uncle Ted]

Does it go up to 11?

"It's one louder, isn't it?"

So where does one find tubes these days? I have a few old tube radios that I have restored to operation but had a hell of time finding the replacement tubes. I finally found the ones I needed on ebay but paid dearly for them.

[SoCalCoug]

I've got a new amp design that will be debuting May 8th at the Utah Blues Amp Sho V.

My partner and I have the circuit boards put together (mostly) and got the chassis drilled out tonight. You can also see my new faceplate design.

I thought I'd post a few pics of the progress from now until the show.

The inside of the chassis prior to punching the holes for the tube sockets and wiring up the potentiometers:



Front view with prototype faceplate and potentiometers mounted. On top you can see my custom made transformers.


Circuit Board:

Is this nerd porn, or what?

[Shaka]

It's close to nerd porn.

[Shaka]

"It's one louder, isn't it?"

So where does one find tubes these days? I have a few old tube radios that I have restored to operation but had a hell of time finding the replacement tubes. I finally found the ones I needed on ebay but paid dearly for them.

Depends on the tubes. Which ones do you need? There are a few online stores that specialize in amplifier tubes and they might have what you need.

[Uncle Ted]

Depends on the tubes. Which ones do you need? There are a few online stores that specialize in amplifier tubes and they might have what you need.

I may ping you when I have another one burn out. I looked all over for the one I needed and finally found it on ebay. It set me back something like $35, if I recall.

[creekster]

This particular amp is a take on a vintage Silvertone although it's not a replica. A buddy that owns a studio approached me with the idea of doing a boutique version of the amp because it has such a great sound and no modern ampmaker is doing an update. This is common practice. Very few guitar amps are complete original designs. When Leo Fender started building tube amps he copied schematics from military radios. Jim Marshall's first amp was based on the Fender Bassman. The guys from Matchless started out by building a virtually bulletproof version of the Vox AC30. ( That amp is the Matchless DC30 and in my opinion it's probably the best guitar amp ever built.)

This amp uses only the highest quality components. Everything is military spec. The transformers are custom wound and use a very high quality iron. Interestingly we are building two amps, one with the high end transformers and the other with run of the mill cheapo transformers that cost $250 less. We want to see just how big of a difference the transformers make.

I designed the faceplate in Corel Draw. It has a couple of problems that are easily fixed. I'll probably have the laser engraver cut the final tomorrow.

Wait until you see the head and speaker cabs. They will blow you away.

That is gorgeous. Make sure you post the follow ups. FIrsat you make guitars and now you make amps. I want to be you when I grow up.

[Shaka]

I may ping you when I have another one burn out. I looked all over for the one I needed and finally found it on ebay. It set me back something like $35, if I recall.

$35 isn't bad for an old tube. I like to buy New Old Stock (NOS) tubes and they can cost $100 or more per tube. These are tubes that were manufactured in the golden age of production. Most of them were American or British made.

[Shaka]

That is gorgeous. Make sure you post the follow ups. FIrsat you make guitars and now you make amps. I want to be you when I grow up.

This wasn't my first rodeo. Here's the last amp I built. It's much like a Matchless Lightning with a few modifications. As I've stated before the Matchless is a take on the Vox AC15.

[Surfah]

Dude Shakarocks!

[Uncle Ted]

$35 isn't bad for an old tube. I like to buy New Old Stock (NOS) tubes and they can cost $100 or more per tube. These are tubes that were manufactured in the golden age of production. Most of them were American or British made.

I guess I don't feel so bad paying $35 for mine.